Continental ban may clip cockfighting's wings

Humane group complained about adult poultry cargo

Published 6:30 am, Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Continental Airlines has banned shipments of adult chickens after a national animal rights group complained that many of them were being sent to Guam for cockfighting.

The Houston carrier took that step on Oct. 16, more than 10 months after the Humane Society of the United States told the airline it had been "unwittingly" shipping thousands of birds to the Pacific island for use in cockfighting. The federal Animal Welfare Act prohibits shipping roosters for fighting, even to countries or U.S. territories such as Guam where cockfighting is legal.

"We decided that the right thing to do would be to ban all shipments of live adult poultry," Continental spokeswoman Julie King said. "It's had a minimal impact on our business."

Rooster breeder Thomas DeLong said he doesn't do much business with customers in Guam, but the new Continental policy has cost him a customer. A member of the U.S. military stationed in Guam ordered about 25 birds worth $1,000, but the embargo stopped the deal, DeLong said.

DeLong, who owns Oak Ridge Game Farm in Georgia north of Atlanta, said he generally sells roosters to people interested in showing and breeding them. He added that he can't be held accountable for how his customers use them, but Continental's policy assumes he is selling them for fighting. It's an unfair stereotype, he said.

"They're assuming that that's what they're going for," he said. "That's just saying that everyone out there who sells live chickens sells them for fighting."

Cockfighting is illegal in all but two states — Louisiana and New Mexico. It is a felony in 32 states, but it is a legal pastime in Guam. The practice pits specially bred roosters against each other in fights to the death.

The Humane Society investigated Continental after a confidential informant reported the Houston-based carrier was the only airline shipping roosters to Guam. A Humane Society investigator called the airline's cargo department and asked whether he could ship fighting roosters to Guam. He was told he could, the Humane Society reported in a letter to Continental Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner.

The investigator also checked with other airlines that serve Guam — all based in Asia with the exception of Northwest Airlines — and was told he could not ship live adult birds, said Ann Chynoweth, director of the Humane Society's animal cruelty and fighting campaign.

The group also said it found that 6,000 roosters were shipped to Guam on Continental flights from roughly 2003 to 2005 and that many of the shippers were cockfighting participants in the United States.

Continental had asked customers shipping animals to disclose on shipping forms whether the animals would be used for fighting, but it took the sender's word for it, King said.

The Humane Society sent the letter to Kellner, asking for the immediate ban on rooster shipments, Chynoweth said.

King said it took the airline 10 months to enact the embargo because it took time to work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and conduct its investigation into shipping practices.